Republican Beth Lindstrom takes on taxes, gun rights and the national debt

Wendall Waters wwaters@wickedlocal.com @ttranscript

Tuesday

Aug 21, 2018 at 11:03 AMAug 21, 2018 at 11:03 AM

Groton Republican Beth Lindstrom is vying for the chance to unseat Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in November. But, first, she has to defeat Geoff Diehl and John Kingston in the Sept. 4 primary. Wicked Local caught up with Lindstrom on Sunday to get her take on issues that are important to Massachusetts voters.

Beth Lindstrom isn’t slowing down. At the tail end of a weekend of campaigning that took her to Bourne, Chatham, Dennis, Marion and New Bedford, the Groton Republican is happy to have one more opportunity to talk about the issues that are important to Massachusetts voters.

Lindstrom is one of three candidates vying for the chance to take on Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the general election. Wicked Local caught up with her at Panera Bread in North Andover. A quick bite of a cookie by way of dinner and she was ready to go.

Lindstrom, wife, mother of three boys, and owner of Mind Body Spirit Salon and Day Spa, doesn’t shy away from the divisiveness of today’s politics. In fact, she sees herself as just the right person to reach across the isle, find common ground, and get things done. It’s what she’s done for her entire career, she said.

Tax cuts

"As a small business owner myself, I have seen the increase in business. So, people have more money in their pockets. Eighty percent of people in Massachusetts have seen a increase in their paychecks, so I think that’s a benefit," Lindstrom said, of the tax cuts President Trump signed into law last year.

She said she goes around the state talking to business owners, CEOs, managers and workers, and they say they’re seeing positive results. In some cases, she said, business improvements might not be immediate, but are in the works. That’s the whole point, she said.

"You don’t start a business to fail," she said.

Business owners are always trying to grow and improve their operations, she said.

"From my perspective," Lindstrom said, "being able to keep the cost of business low is important because government doesn’t create jobs; People do."

Is President Trump’s governing style good for the country?

"I will be supportive of [Trump] when it’s right for the people of Massachusetts. And I’ll disagree when it’s not," Lindstrom said. "I will respect the office of the president… But, I don’t work for Donald trump as a U.S. senator. I work for the people of Massachusetts."

She said she agrees with tax reform and Trump’s historic meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

"But where I disagree," she said, "are the three Ts: tone, temperament and Twitter."

However, Lindstrom that the nation as a whole has become hyper-partisan, and the negative narrative on both sides isn’t good for the country. Warren, Lindstrom said, is just as responsible for that. She said of Trump and Warren, "They don’t bring out the best in each other."

"I also wish that part of [Trump's] narrative would be more presidential, because I think some of his policy has been beneficial, but he just sometimes doesn’t help himself," she said.

"I don’t advocate for abortions," she said. "I am not for partial-birth abortions."

She also said she supports a parental consent requirement in the case of minors seeking abortions.

"Having the ability to just talk about what’s going on with your own child is important," she said.

Gun rights

"I am a supporter of the Second Amendment," Lindstrom said.

However, she said, some individuals with mental health issues should not have guns.

In general, she supported the so-called red flag bill and wasn’t surprised that Gov. Charlie Baker signed it into law. It gives family members the right to petition the court for temporary removal of guns from a person who is deemed to be a danger to himself or to others.

Lindstrom gives the example of her father, who has dementia.

"We’ve had guns in our family," she said, "but there comes a time when he shouldn’t."

Protecting gun rights is important, she said, and, in the case of a family petitioning to have someone’s weapons taken away, due process is critical, but there also needs to be a focus on mental health.

"When there’s clear evidence that someone needs to do something, that’s where we need to be responsive," Lindstrom said.

The national debt

"I do think that Congress’s first job is that they need to set a budget," Lindstrom said, "and it’s frustrating when, if that’s their first priority, they can’t get to accomplishing that."

Lindstrom said it would be refreshing if Congress looked at what the needs are and determined whether those could be funded before taking a look at the nice-to-haves.

Balancing the budget might mean re-examining entitlement programs, such as Social Security, and taking measures to make sure they’re sustainable.

"My mom’s on Social Security," she said, "so there’s nothing I’m going to do to hurt her. But, I do think we can be forward thinking and look at possibilities for incremental change down the line. And, those are tough decisions."

It might be necessary to look at means testing and pushing out the age of eligibility, Lindstrom said. A lot has changed since the Social Security program was created. For one thing, people live a lot longer now.

In any event, she said, changes need to be done in such a way that they don’t harm people who are already in the system or who will soon be eligible.

Lindstrom served in Gov. Mitt Romney’s cabinet as director of consumer affairs and business regulation. At that time, she said, people were not saving money.

"Kids didn’t know the difference between a debit card and a credit card," she said.

Lindstrom was very concerned that kids were coming out of high school not knowing the basics of how to manage their money. So, she worked to create, at little cost to the state, a financial literacy program for high schoolers that could be taught as part of math or economics classes.

"We do need to be honest with our children and our children’s children about what’s coming down the road," she said.

Vote on Supreme Court nominee

Is it fair to force a vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before senators have been able to examine all of his records?

"I would think you should have transparency," Lindstrom said. "I think there should be transparency in most everything that we do in life, especially as a government, because people feel like the government’s working for them and not the other way around."

She said that what she looks for in a Supreme Court justice is someone who will follow the law, will follow the Constitution, and will be impartial when judging cases.

She said of Kavanaugh, "I think he would be a qualified justice."

On the importance of debates

Linstrom pointed out that she attended four debates, including those at WCVB and WGBH, for which her Republican opponents backed out on short notice. On those four occasions, she said, Geoff Diehl and John Kingston deprived voters of the opportunity to learn where they stand on the issues.

"I think that debates bring out the differences in the candidates," she said.

She reserves he harshest criticism for Diehl.

"He's a career politician," Lindstrom said, "and when you're a career politician you say one thing and you do another."

Diehl, she said, spoke out against legislative pay raises but then turned around and took one.